Walking through the air
by TMCL247
Summary: The adventure of one little boy (Root/Shaw's son) on one magical day - POI/The Snowman crossover. Root, Shaw and Bear mentioned.


It was dusk and the sky is turning grey. Crows call in the background as daylight fades and a young man with dark brunette hair, tall and athletic looking, with hazel round eyes, and sporting a heavy winter jacket and yellow Wellington boots, walks through a field. As he does he recalls that day...

"I remember that winter because it snowed the heaviest snow that I had ever seen. It must have started sometime during the night and continued long into the next evening. Unrelenting it was as I woke in the morning to a room filled with light and a quiet stillness. So calm it felt like I was in a dream as the serenity of that moment made everything seem at peace. And on such a magical day, I built a snowman."

A beautiful barn owl is seen soaring through the sky, high across the snow covered landscape. It glides through the air cutting through the soft falling snow as the dark sky also slowly fades into light. No longer possible to tell the difference between the undulating land as it was as white as the eye could see, the owl continues to travel with it's pinpoint accurate senses scouring the land for prey. Even the walls that once separated the fields become one as the snow continued to pile on high above the ground. A lone horse stands next to an obstacle under a white canopied tree trying to seek what little shelter she had, waiting for day to break and the snow to stop. She would be disappointed, at least for another day.

The owl curves its duffel wings and banks sharp to the right with effortless ease and comes to a complete stop as it perches on the ledge of a window on the top floor of a stone built house. Glancing through the Georgian styled window the owl spots a small boy stirring. In fright the owl flutters away.

Stirring a little while longer the boy eventually opens his eyes to the light in his room and turns spotting the little flecks of white dust falling on the other side of the window. Taking the split second to wait for his eyes to readjust, the little boy jumps out of bed and runs past his balding giraffe soft toy sitting on top of the drawers beside his bed, and to his undrawn window.

"Snow!"

Excitedly he turns around and pulls a drawer open, pulling out a pair of pants and a sweater. With such force was the jerking of the drawer it rattles the giraffe soft toy as it travels with the vibrations. Quickly changing out of his pyjamas and into his clothes, the little boy then runs down the stairs passing the family portraits and large clock sitting at the bottom of the stairs. Nearly bumping into his Ma as she walks out of the living room, the little boy greets her in haste and continues to run into the kitchen.

Stopped by his Mom and now looking down at his bare feet, he is reminded to put on some socks, so he strides to one side and grabs a pair from the clothes horse behind him. Hopping and jumping along the tiled floors as he puts each one on, he then retrieves his yellow Wellington boots on the other side of the room while his Mom returns back to washing the dishes, her head slightly tilted and humming as she did so.

Now with his boots in hand he runs to the front door and opens it, opening the door to the front courtyard covered in undisturbed pure powered white snow as far as he could see. Sitting down under the archway to pull on his boots he is greeted once again by his Mom as she pulls a woolly tasselled hat down over his short curly brunette hair, over his head and past his ears. Finishing pulling on the second boot the little boy jumps up with so much haste the woolly hat falls back off again as he leaps into the white powder making his first foot print.

Stomp, stomp, stomp as he makes his giant steps through it. Crunch, crunch, crunch as the crisp powder is flattened under his feet, under the pressure of his body weight. He is then joined by the family dog, a large brown Belgian Malinois as he leaps and jumps with all four legs into the air and back down onto the fresh snow. Leaping with joy the little boy and the Malinois continue to jump and make their marks in the snow.

After a while the squashing of the snow soon becomes not enough as the little boy kicks out in boredom. A small patch of snow flies from his boot up into the air and fades into smaller granules as it drops back down again onto the snow covered ground. Grabbing a handful of snow he then throws it as hard as he could. Without realising his own strength the snowball hits one of the windows of his home.

Peering out of the window his Mom admonishes him. Stuffing his hands in his pocket and shrinking from his error in judgement, he turns around and trudges huffing and puffing slowly through the snow and away from the house, the Malinois still following. After a few seconds of wondering what to do an idea pops into his head and he bends down and starts pushing and rolling a giant snowball back towards the direction of the front door of the house.

As he starts to shape the snow into legs he looks up to see his Ma standing watching him from the still open front door. The Malinois having already long retreated into the house, it was dinner time and so the little boy stops and runs back into the house to eat. As the family sit down at the table he scoffs his food and quickly dashes back out again to continue his project. All the while the snow had continued to fall unrelentingly. The dark sky however had returned once again.

With the front door wide open and the hallway light shinning out onto the courtyard, the little boy continues to build by rolling another but smaller giant snow ball. Finished heaving the smaller snowball on top of the other he runs excitedly back into the house asking his Mom for a hat and scarf, which she then retrieves from the side cupboard by the front door.

Running back out with his articles he places the dark brown felt cowboy hat on the Snowman's head and ties the red neckerchief around it's neck. Running to the side of the courtyard he starts to pick out smooth and round stones. Once collected he heads back and places the two smaller ones on the head for it's eyes and the remainder were pushed into the front of the now forming snowman to mimic shirt buttons. Finished drawing a smile through across the head the little boy stands back and looks at his creation. Something was missing.

Turning and realising that someone was standing at the front door archway he turns to see his Ma leaning on the frame of the archway once again, watching him. With a slight turning up of the corners of her lips she tosses him an item from her hand. Catching it the little boy looks down onto it, a tangerine. Looking back up at his Ma he takes a moment before finally getting it and places the orange between the eyes and the mouth. Now his snowman is complete as he is called back into the house.

Sitting by the window seat peering out, his Mom calls him over to the log fire and hands him a long barbecue fork and some marshmallows. Joining his moms and siblings he sits and roasts his marshmallows while continually sneaking a peak out the window at every opportunity he got.

Brushing his teeth his Mom enters the bathroom checking that he had brushed his teeth properly and finds him next to the window peering down at his snowman. Embarrassed that he was caught once again he quickly finishes brushing his teeth and runs back to his bed.

Tucking him in his Mom showers him with kisses and switches off the bedroom light...

Tossing and turning the little boy is too restless to sleep as his mind continues to run excitedly, as excitedly and wild as the still falling snow. Not able to resist any longer he gets up. Putting on his dressing gown he creeps back downstairs and looks through the window on the front door. His snowman was still there.

As the big hand joins the little the clock strikes midnight and a flashing wave of light washes over the Snowman before quickly disappearing again. With his mouth hanging open the little boy's fingers lean more heavily onto the door frame as he continues to peer out of the window and at the snowman. The same snowman who has now jumped around and is smiling and waving at him.

Opening the door the Snowman walks to him hand held out. With a wide beam of excitement the little boy invites the Snowman into home and leading him to the living room and to the arm chair in front of the fire. As the family's Malinois opens one eye, half asleep beside the fire, he spots the walking snowman and jumps and barks in fright before running off.

As the little boy shrugs at his dog the Snowman proceeds to sit down on the chair. Sliding his way into the seat the Snowman takes the time to relax and enjoy the comfort of it by the open fire. The little boy switches on the TV to keep them both entertained but it is not long before the Snowman starts feeling the heat, except he does not know what that is as he jumps up and starts pulling at his neckerchief. The little boy soon realises that the Snowman is melting as he spots the pool of water by his feet and so he quickly switches off the TV and leads the Snowman into the kitchen. Looking around the Snowman finds the reindeer and Santa shaped cookies. Moving around the kitchen table it spots the snowmen cupcakes and picks one up in amusement, smiling at the similarity of that snowman and himself, it was like a portrait. All that was missing from the cupcake was a mini cowboy hat.

Moving up the stairs they pass several family portraits and photos giving the little boy an idea as he leads the Snowman into his moms' room and straight into their walk in wardrobe. Mimicking the photos the Snowman puts on some blusher painting his cheeks rosy red before playing with and saturating himself in perfume.

Grabbing his Mom's pair of jeans the little boy hands them to the Snowman to put on. The little boy laughs silently as he watches the Snowman try and stumbles before falling onto a heap of clothes. The pants were too small for the Snowman as he shakes his head. Grabbing a dress instead the Snowman puts this on and looks at himself in the mirror.

Suddenly the Snowman feels a sneeze coming on and he holds his orange nose. In horror the little boy watches on helplessly. Relief washes over him as the Snowman's sneeze subsides. Peering into his mom's room they were still fast asleep.

Not risking it anymore the little boy quickly starts placing the clothes back where he found them and tidying the make up, toiletries and accessories they had been playing with as the Snowman feels another sneezing coming on. Stopping from tidying things away the little boy holds his breath and looks towards the Snowman, waiting.

In relief this sneeze also subsides and the tidying continues while the Snowman takes off the dress and rubs off the blusher and make up from his face. Finished they tip toe back out the room and closes the bedroom door gently. His Ma stirring gently but not enough to wake her.

Leading the Snowman back to his own room the little boy introduces the Snowman to his beloved giraffe, his favourite toy as he lifts it from the top of his drawers. After greeting the rattling giraffe the Snowman spots the musical box also sitting on the top of the drawer. Lifting the base and turning the handle the ballerina starts dancing around in circles as a soft melody is played. Smiling the Snowman puts the music box back down and also starts to dance, dancing around the room as the little boy joins him. Suddenly the Snowman stumbles as he places a foot onto a skate lying on the floor and loses his balance as the skate takes him for a ride. Quickly regaining his balance the Snowman begins gliding round the room on the skate like the dancing ballerina.

Placing a hand over his mouth the little boy laughs silently at the show. As the Snowman stops takes off his cowboy hat and bows before standing and placing the hat back on his head.

Working their way back downstairs and back out into the courtyard, the little boy moves to the far side of the courtyard and tries to move a large cover from an object. Watching him struggle the Snowman helps him to remove the cover revealing an old model black Yamaha motorcycle. As the little boy grabs and places a helmet on the Snowman, the Snowman jumps onto the motorcycle and starts the engine. Putting on his own helmet, the little boy hops onto the back seat and they were off, slipping and sliding around the courtyard before out of the walls of the courtyard and through the fields.

The light on the front of the bike sends a glowing beam in an otherwise pitch dark land as the bike continues to splutter and slide across the snow. Up over the hill and through another field they scare a group of hare out scavenging. Quickly spotting the light and hopping out of the way, the group of hare are split into two as the motorcycle cuts through their group and quickly disappearing again.

Another barn owl perched high on a tree turns his head 360 as it becomes attracted to the glimmering light of the motorcycle bumping it's way along a snow covered path. Heading toward the forest the Snowman and the little boy disturb a vividly orange fox as it runs into the forest weaving in and out of the trees swiftly and efficiently. The Snowman follows clumsily and heavily as he traces the fox's steps and back out of the forest again on the other side.

Flying and then sliding down a hill a chestnut brown horse gallops with them for a few hundred metres before leaving them to gallop home again, leaving the Snowman to direct the motorcycle back towards the house and into the courtyard.

Stopping back at the spot where they uncovered the motorcycle the Snowman steps off to find his inner thighs and calves starting to melt from the heat emitting from the motorcycle engine. Pausing a moment to think, the little boy then leads the Snowman into the garage and to the horizontal freezer. Opening the lid the Snowman takes off his hat and steps in, placing a bag of peas on his forehead as he lies down.

Realising that he was lying on something, the Snowman fishes under his body and pulls out a bag of frozen fish, the bag with a picture of the north pole. Quickly placing the bag down and retrieving his cowboy hat, the Snowman walks back out to the courtyard and looks upwards.

Confused the little boy follows and then watches as the Snowman slowly starts to walk away. The little boy runs to catch up with him wondering where he was going. As soon as the Snowman realises that the little boy was beside him again the Snowman takes his hand and starts running. The run soon changes to a long stride followed by a leap followed by another long stride and a leap into the air.

Still confused and now a little afraid the little boy starts to pull back tugging on his arm as the Snowman does not let go of his hand. Still leaping and bounding forward the Snowman drags the little boys feet along the snow and before the little boy could realise it they were walking in the air...

Looking down onto the ground and frightened, the little boy huddles into and grips onto the Snowman as they now start flying and the Snowman embraces the little boy tighter.

Flying past other homes they spot other Snowmen and women. With a wave of his hand the Snowman bids the others to join them, which they do as they all fly over lakes and snow capped peaks and snow blanketed national parks. Turning the Snowman and the little boy continue to fly over and follow a frozen lake while the snow people continued northwards.

Starting to feel more comfortable the little boy stops being terrified and starts to enjoy the flying through the air as a man on a party cruise on the lake below looks up and spots the flying Snowman and little boy. Taking a moment to register what he was seeing the party guest then looks down at the bottle of champagne his hand.

Flying over the Falls the clouds of water crashing into the lake thunders out as the powerful sound cuts through the otherwise silent night. Turning away from the natural beauty the Snowman continues to guide himself and the little boy northwards.

Passing over some residential areas a little girl sitting by her window sill peering out and waiting for Santa spots the Snowman and the little boy fly by. In shock she picks up a Christmas card on the window sill, the card depicting Santa on a sleigh being pulled by reindeer, before looking back up and out of the window at the flying people...

Continuing on the Snowman and little boy are joined by a heard of moose running with them from below. Running out onto the open fields. They soon leave the moose far behind as they approach the sea and the seagulls join them. As the open water nears some seagulls even start to bump into them as they all compete for air space. Following the valley and to the cliff top they follow along the cliff top for a while before heading out into the vast open deep blue sea. All the while the snow is still continuing to fall relentlessly.

Flying only a few meters above the sea the snowman and little boy follow an orca whale as it flips it's tale in and out of the water nearly splashing the both of them. As they giggle the orca blows water from his blowhole and successfully soaks the little boy. Still laughing the orca dips his head out of the water in farewell as she dives deep back into the ocean and disappears, leaving the Snowman and the little boy to continue on their own course.

Approaching the end of the visible sea and vast lands of ice, the Snowman continues to fly up high, high onto a snow capped peak mountain where they're spotted by penguins. In confusion the penguin community look up at the flying oddity before continuing on with their own fishing schedules.

The little boy spots a flash of light and it was gone again. Another flash of light and the Snowman turns towards it before dropping down onto a plateaued hill top. Looking up into the sky the lights continued to dance in it's aurora.

The Snowman then leads the little boy towards the forest, a heavy thick forest. Scared of the darkness the little boy once again huddles into the side of the Snowman. Placing a gentle hand on the little boy the Snowman continues to guide him through the dark forest before letting go and going to push back some branches of a particular tree to clear a gap. Looking back the Snowman nods his head bidding for the little boy to walk through the cleared gap.

As the little boy hesitates he slowly wanders through the gap and realises that he was looking at the backs of many snowmen and snowwomen standing looking the other way. At what the little boy could not see.

Realising that the little boy was behind them, the many snowmen and snowwomen start clearing a path for him to walk through. The snowmen and snowmen all dressed in their various party hats, top hat, Mountie hat, woolly hat, bamboo pointed hat, turban, police hat, floral hat, captain's hat, and dressed in scarves, ties, bow ties and aprons to name a few. Urged by his own cowboy Snowman, the little boy is urged to walk through the crowd of snow people.

"Santa!" As the little boy cries in jubilation as he is greeted by a white bearded man in a red suit standing in his apron in the middle of the circle of snow people.

Opening his arms out the little boy runs and leaps into Santa's embrace and the music starts playing as the Irish snowmen and women start playing the piano and the fiddle to get the party started. As the atmosphere of the open air party starts to heighten a tartan dressed snowman helps form two lines of snow people. As another tartan dressed Snowman starts to play the bagpipes the line of snow people start to dance their Ceilidh dances. The cowboy Snowman takes the little boy's hand and they too join in on the ceilidh as they dance down the line spinning round and round and round.

Other snowmen and women are seen eating and drinking, chatting and laughing, pulling crackers and telling bad Christmas jokes. All the while cowboy Snowman and the little boy are still spinning and spinning and spinning round in circles dancing the night away.

Dizzy, the Snowman and little boy let go of each other's hands and they fall into the snow. As Santa picks the little boy up and brushes the snow off of him he invites the little boy to the shed just a short distance in front of them.

Walking in the little boy spots Rudolph and Dancer in their stable. As the little boy walks up to greet the reindeer Santa moves away to retrieve the little boy's present from his sleigh.

Standing by the door cowboy Snowman waves his arm to hurry the little boy and Santa along as he stands watch by the door.

Handing over the wrapped gift, which the little boy opens to reveal a Snowman printed red scarf, the little boy hugs Santa one last time and follows the Snowman out of the shed. With the scarf neatly wrapped around the little boy's neck, the little boy takes the Snowman's hand once again as they run then leap and then bound back into the air and flying back home. The sky was becoming brighter as they flew faster and higher.

Landing safely back in front of the house courtyard the Snowman smiles and urges the little boy back into the house. Walking towards the front door the little boy turns back to see the Snowman still smiling and waving him goodbye. Sad, the little boy runs back and hugs the Snowman one last time saying goodbye before returning back into his home...

A strong yellow light floods into the bedroom waking the little boy. As he opens his eyes he moves his hand over them to shade them from the strong rays before realising... Snapping awake the little boy jumps out of his bed and grabs his dressing gown as he runs out onto the landing and down the stairs. Opening the front door the little boy's excitement drops. Walking slowly out into the courtyard and up to the now small pile of crumbling snow, the Snowman had melted. Dipping his hands into his dressing gown pocket he pulls out the red snowman printed scarf.

It wasn't a dream?


End file.
